Qantas chaos continues: Fourth Qantas plane forced to make emergency landing in two days, this time after a warning light went off in the cockpit
- Qantas Melbourne-bound flight forced to return to Hobart Airport
- Pilots were alerted to an issue with the aircraft on Tuesday evening
- Qantas also had three emergency landings on Monday
- Sydney to Dallas flight QF7 was forced to return to Sydney due to 'non-safety related' technical issues at 10.30pm
- Domestic flight QF904 was diverted back to Perth Airport at 3pm when a 'strange odour' was smelt in the cabin
- A St Johns Ambulance spokesman said some passengers felt unwell after the flight and 'up to 80 people' were assessed for smoke inhalation
- A Qantas flight from Dubai to Sydney was landed at Perth Airport at 1am
Chaos on Qantas airlines continues with the fourth flight in 48 hours forced to do an emergency landing due to technical problems.
A Melbourne-bound flight was turned back to Hobart Airport just 20 minutes after take off on Tuesday evening.
A warning system in the cockpit indicated to the pilots that there was an issue with the aircraft.
The aircraft was grounded for two hours while engineers at Hobart Airport investigated the Boeing 717, ensuring it was safe to take off again.
The plane was approved for flight and passengers safely arrived in Melbourne just before 9pm (AEST).
Three Qantas flights were forced to land on Monday due to various technical malfunctions.
A Qantas spokesperson insists that each incident was unrelated.
'It's just an unfortunate series of events,' the Qantas spokesperson said, according to The Age.
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The fourth flight in 48 hours forced to do an emergency landing due to technical problems, with a Melbourne-bound flight turned back
to Hobart Airport just 20 minutes after take off on Tuesday evening
While the Qantas spokeswoman said there were 'no reports of any passengers affected', a St John Ambulance spokesman said paramedics were treating 75 people at the airport for smoke inhalation
Travellers took to social media to complain about their flight malfunction, explaining that '400 people at 11pm were being processed by two staff members' as they waited for luggage
On Monday, a Qantas flight from Sydney to Dallas was forced to return to Sydney airport four hours into its journey due to a ‘technical issue’ which affected power to seats, in-flight entertainment and some toilets on board.
The flight landed at Sydney airport at 10.30pm.
The airline emphasised that the problem was 'non-safety related' and the decision was purely a matter of 'customer comfort.'
Earlier that day, two aircrafts were forced to land at Perth Airport in separate incidents.
In the early hours of the morning, a Dubai-to-Sydney flight was forced to land when air pressure in the cabin suddenly dropped, whilst in the afternoon a domestic Qantas flight was turned back to Perth due to a 'strange odour' in the cabin.
The disasterous day began with good news for the airline, when Qantas CEO Alan Joyce announced a $550 million improvement on the airline's finances.
It had appeared Qantas' fortune was turning around as shares had increased by 14 per cent.
But the good luck quickly ended when flights began to turn around instead.
Both flights which with unscheduled landings on Monday were grounded at Perth Airport (pictured)
It had begun as a positive day for Qantas when CEO Alan Joyce announced a half-year profit of between $300 and $350 million
Just hours before, a domestic flight was turned back to Perth when ‘strange odours’ were smelt in the cabin of Karratha-bound flight QF904.
A spokeswoman for Perth Airport said a warning system had also lit up.
However, passengers began to complain that they felt unwell and were attended to by paramedics after they safely disembarked the vessel at 3pm, according to ABC News.
Up to 80 people were 'assessed for smoke inhalation at Perth Airport', according to a St John Ambulance spokesperson.
It was confirmed that all patients, which included pilots and passengers, were cleared and no transportation was required.
It's claimed the first grounded plane dropped from 39,000 feet to 9000 feet in just minutes
A Qantas spokeswoman insisted that smoke inhalation would have been impossible as there was no smoke in the cabin at any point
Passenger David Robertson explained that everyone on the flight remained calm after a smell similar to kerosene or 'a dry-cleaning smell' was detected, ABC News reports.
'They just made the announcement that (there was a) strange smell around row five or six, and they're just turned it back for precautionary reasons,' he told ABC.
'Qantas flight QF 904 from Perth to Karatha did an air return at 2.40pm Perth time today following reports by cabin crew of an unusual odour in the cabin,' a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.
'The flight landed normally with emergency services on standby as a precaution.'
'The 737 aircraft will undergo an engineering inspection to try and locate the source of the odour.'
Passengers were moved to a later Qantas flight.
The aircraft was being investigated by engineers and Qantas personnel on Monday.
The incident with Flight QF904 was just hours after a Qantas airbus was grounded at the same airport, due to 'a drop in air pressure in the cabin'.
Passengers on the plane, travelling from Dubai to Sydney, experienced a dramatic descent into Perth Airport in the early hours of Monday morning.
The aircraft experienced technical issues, when reportedly air pressure in the cabin dropped and the plane’s air conditioning unit malfunctioned.
Passengers appeared calm as they waited on the tarmac in Perth after the first Qantas incident
A Qantas passenger has documented his terrifying emergency landing experience after the huge double-deck airbus plane was forced to abandon its path when its cabin lost air pressure.
The QF2 flight reportedly dropped from 39,000 feet to 9,000 feet in just minutes on its way from Dubai to Sydney.
Traveller Nigel Richardson, from Melbourne, documented the dramatic landing on Twitter, and reported those on board were told: ‘Cabin crew this is an emergency descent. The aircraft is in full control’.
He commented it was 'sort of a good news / bad news thing.’
‘Fastest descent I've ever experienced in a plane. Always interesting when you see cabin crew running too,’ he added.
‘Air conditioning problem. Aircraft not in danger. Crew very calm and professional,’ he said, before later being told by staff that the air con was not the problem and they would need to leave the plane at Perth.
Live tweeting the terrifying experience, the frequent flyer joked: ‘Look on the bright side. I've never been to Perth before. Unplanned stopover. How long we are here for – TBD.’
Courtney Atkinson tweeted a picture of the flight path and called it an 'interesting start to the day' after the plane dropped in just 'four minutes'
Frequent flyer Nigel Richardson was woken up by the plane's quick descent
He kept his Twitter followers updated with the situation and said there was 'full show down of air conditioning system'
Mr Richardson joked he had never been to Perth before
‘Full shut down of air conditioning system that keeps plane pressurised at altitude was the problem,’ he clarified.
He said despite the oxygen masks not dropping the incident ‘seemed to scare the crews as much as us’.
As the giant plane waited on the tarmac at Perth airport for a decision to be made on what to do next, Mr Richardson tweeted a photo from inside the cabin of people calmly reaching into the overhead lockers, talking and reading on their Kindles and laptops.
After first being told an air conditioning problem was at fault, he then said: ‘Air con fault not identified. Expect that ground crew need to talk to Airbus to resolve. Decision to de-plane...’
The passenger said the Qantas crew were 'very calm and professional'
Another passenger said the pilot was keeping them informed
Mr Richardson was later told the air con was not at fault
Fellow passenger Gabriella Southwell said that after the plane had made its emergency landing a pilot walking down the aisle ‘keeping people informed’.
The AirLive website reported that the A380 was 'circling to burn/dump fuel before landing to Perth'.
A Qantas spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: 'Qantas Flight QF2 travelling from Dubai to Sydney diverted to Perth due to a fault with the air conditioning. The fault occurred about 1 hour from Perth.
'As a precaution the aircraft descended to 10,000 feet and the Captain requested a priority landing .
'The aircraft landed safely and was inspected by engineers.
'As the crew reached their maximum duty limits before the issue could be fixed on the ground, customers have been provided with overnight accommodation and will be booked on the next available services today to their destination.'
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2866876/Qantas-chaos-continues-Fourth-Qantas-plane-forced-make-emergency-landing-two-days-time-warning-light-went-cockpit.html#ixzz3LRG02Kqr
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